New to smoking, from Wichita, KS.

Hello all! My name is Matt, and I just dove into the meat smoking world last weekend! I took my wife to Academy Sports to buy her an electric smoker, as I saw earlier in the year that they had a pretty amazing selection. However, they have gotten rid of all but one of their compact smokers! We did see that they had a HUGE clearance sale going on. Apparently, they do this once per year. I found an Oklahoma Joe’s Bandera smoker on clearance! The compact electric smoker (not on clearance) was $169. I almost had it in the cart when I found the Bandera smoker. I had no idea what it was worth, or that there is a huge group of people that love them! The tag on the Bandera said $199.98. The employee nearby said everything that ends in “.98” is on clearance, for an additional 50% off! Yeah. I knew it was WELL WORTH $100 for the Bandera. I later looked it up on Google, and saw it selling for $579! WOW! I’m glad I bought it! I also found a Weber iGrill2 digital thermometer with 2 probes on clearance! Yes. Another steal! $30! I haven’t made any modifications to the smoker yet, but have some gasket and fire bricks coming. I also work in metal shops, so I hope I can get a fire grate made soon. I smoked my first meal last weekend, some Salmon from Costco. WOW. it was great! The temp was difficult to keep above 200, but I think my upgrades will help.
Thanks to everyone for the tips! I’ve learned so much already!

Just had this fire grate made from .135” stainless! There are perks to working in metal shops!